phd rants and raves - ix.cs.uoregon.eduix.cs.uoregon.edu/~yannis/phd-slides.pdfonly a fully trained...
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PhD Rants and Raves(Be afraid. Be very afraid.)
Yannis SmaragdakisUniversity of Oregon
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What is a PhD?• An advanced graduate degree awarded for
demonstrable ability to do research– research = the production of new knowledge
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Why Do a PhD?• A lot of bad reasons
– financially, it may not make sense– some people do it just because being a student is fun
• Only one good reason:Luke! You must complete the training...Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the force as his ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor.
if you are fascinated by CS and want to go deep, then a PhD is the right thing for you
A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.
be a Jedi knight!
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PhD years: the time of disillusionment
Luke: I am ready. Ben! I can be a Jedi. Ben, tell him I’m ready.
(Trying to see Ben, Luke starts to get up but hits his head on the low ceiling.)
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• New students typically think they know everything
• I have yet to see anyone with just a bachelor’s who is able to make a contribution right away– and I’ve had students with many years of
industrial experience
At first...
Luke: But I’ve learned so muchYoda: (sighs) Will he finish what he begins?
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Time of Disillusionment
• I have bad news for you. During your PhD you will find out: (page 1 of 56)
– there are people who are better than you– you are not good at everything. Play to your
strengths!– life is unfair
• people who are not as smart or hard-working will be luckier and end up with better results
• people who have done worse work will end up with better jobs because of their field/advisor
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Time of Disillusionment
• More bad news:– being good at courses is not enough– doing what you are told may not be enough
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PhD years: the time of insecurity
Luke: I won’t fail you— I’m not afraid.Yoda: Oh, you will be. You will be.
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Insecurity
• You may often wonder:– am I good enough?
• are you here for the right reason?
– can I do research?• yes, you can
– why do all the people around me publish and I don’t?
• concentrate on what you do and do not try to evaluate yourselves with post-PhD criteria
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When Will I Finish?
• Here are some good news: time stops during your PhD– nobody will ask you why you took n years and
not n-k to finish– you have a good excuse to hide from society
and do your thing. You are fully justified!– good thing too, because the timeline is very
uncertain
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Keep Concerns Away
• To do this, you must ignore some real-world concerns
• Easier said than done:– stipend is enough to live on, but does not compare
to a salary• perhaps ok if you are 23, but even then, for how long?
– friends will start careers, buy cars and houses– you will be spending the best part of a decade in a
time warp
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You Control Your Fate
Luke: What’s in there?Yoda: Only what you take with you...
Your weapons...you will not need them.
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Some Good News
• You have (some) control of your destiny• If you do great work, you may be noticed
– no pre-set boundaries: your peer group is the entire community, not people in the same university
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Advice
• Strive to improve yourself!– if time is not an object, this will eventually pay
off
• You are in the ideal position to make significant contributions– professors are not!
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“Survivor Story” Warning
• Of course, this is survivor advice• Don’t ask survivors for advice
– “Russian roulette is a great way to make money!”
• Take what I say with a grain of salt, but take everything anyone says with a grain of salt– doubt everyone, and start with me
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More Good News
The Force is strong
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PhD Life is Fun
• If you are here for the right reason, a PhD can be tremendous fun
• You are a student, but can support yourself• You will work on interesting things
– a lot of freedom, few obligations– think of yourself as a freelancer
• “The only time in your life you will be paid to learn.”
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How to Pick an Area
Luke: Is the dark side stronger?Yoda: No...no...no. Quicker, easier, more seductive
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Research in CS
• Different kinds of research– scientific research = research based on analysis
• analyze until you find the most fundamental parts, even if working with them does not resemble working on the original problem
– engineering research = research based on synthesis
• compose many small solutions into a single big one
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Predicting the Future• Future employability should not be your
primary criterion– it is impossible to predict the future very accurately– in the 80s AI was hot; in the early 90s it was
multimedia; now it is security and biocomputing– many students find that the area that was hot when
they started is saturated when they graduate
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Importance in the Real World
• Many people use the potential impact in the real world as their criterion– but big real-world problems are big because
they are hard– if you want to work on something important
and make no difference, be a politician
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Concentrate on Mode of Research
• Many research areas are defined by problem and not by solution approach– E.g., networking, SE
• Make sure you like the mode of research in an area– is it theoretical or applied?– what flavor do the intellectual results have? Does
this inspire you?– what do you have to do every day? Code? Think?
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Don’t Trust Big Results• I like the big results in every area of CS• We will all be happy if one of you gets one
such result in his/her lifetime• To pick an area: be sure you like the
incremental results– you should consider them important, or at least
fun!• or you can just talk yourself into believing that
incremental results are big
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Fall in love with your cows!